Personal Service Contract

October 23, 2007

This issue of the Koldin Law Center e-mail mailing list answers the question: “Can you be paid to provide caregiver services for a family member ?”

When a family member (parent, aunt, cousin, etc.) or friend becomes ill, you may face the responsibility of taking care of his/her daily needs including, but not limited to, transportation, grocery shopping, doctor’s visits, bookkeeping, home care visits, cooking and cleaning.

Until recently, you could not be paid for providing vital services. An ill family member would be required to spend down all of his/her life savings to $4,200 before he/she could become eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid is a government program that pays for long term care at home or in a nursing home.

It is now possible to protect all or part of an ill family member’s life savings with a Personal Service Contract.

The Personal Service Contract is included as part of the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 which took effect on February 8, 2006. This part of the law was recently implemented by a NYS Directive dated September 24, 2007.

The Personal Service Contract can be used to provide valuable services to an ill family member while preserving family assets.

The Personal Service Contract must be drafted to strictly comply with the federal and state rules. The contract can provide for lump sum or periodic payments.

The Koldin Law Center is prepared to help you with every aspect of the Personal Service Contract. If you would like to schedule a free consultation to discuss whether a Personal Service Contract is a good option for you along with any other Medicaid or estate planning issues, please contact us.

Our Attorneys Are Available to Speak to Your Organization

Our Attorneys speak to groups throughout New York State as a public service. If you would like to arrange for one of our Attorneys to speak to your group, please contact our office.

We Appreciate Your Referrals

We have been told by many clients who are in a crisis that they wish they had known about our firm much sooner. We are proud of the many families we have helped in times of crisis.

We are also proud of the many families we helped avoid financial crisis by doing estate planning in advance.

We all share the responsibility for making our family and friends aware of the planning options available to them.

Your referral to the Koldin Law Center could make a major difference in the lives of your family and friends if they are someday faced with a long term illness.

Remember that the Koldin Law Center offers many services for clients of all ages. Our services range from basic estate planning such as a simple will to complex estate planning including asset preservation planning.